Proclus And The Ancients

10.1163/ej.9789004158412.i-279.28

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Chapter Summary

This chapter examines the principal passages in which Proclus uses the expression παλαι in his commentary on the Parmenides, in order to point to some of the ways that they might be exploited to yield information about the earlier history of Parmenides-interpretation. The author builds throughout on the work of John Dillon in his notes and introductory material to his and Morrow's translation of the Commentary, and advances the discussion a little farther than what Dillon has done. For Proclus, the metaphysical reading of the second part of the Parmenides begins with Origen and Plotinus, and the orthodox reading with Plotinus' own school. This is evident from his treatment of the "ancients". It also fits with his story of the rediscovery of the true Platonic philosophy in the proemium to his Platonic Theology.